Guess who's backkkk back back; back againnn 8 / Hey guysss! Yeah, I know. I totally came out of nowhere, didn't I? ) So over the past year that I haven't updated my dad cleared the computer so I lost the whole like 6 pages of chapter 11 I had already written. So now it's summer and I'm back to having no life so I'll most likely be updating on a semi-regular basis. I'll do my very best not to go another 11 months without an update. So I reread my story and I've been inspired. Haha. So now, even though I don't have chapter 11, I'll just start over. I hope you guys enjoy! Reviews are my favorite ;o) Peace out gangsterrssss.
Draco chuckled to himself as he was pulled into many different directions. Hermione seemed to have an unfortunate habit of choosing a store, heading towards it, and then abruptly changing her mind and abandoning said store for another. Luck was on her side, as she had his love; otherwise he would have become frustrated and stormed home long ago.
"Ohh! Draco!" squealed Hermione. "I haven't been to that store in ages. I desperately need some new clothes from there."
He looked down at her and followed her gaze to a store called 'Victoria's Secret.' He had never heard of this store, but by the looks of the outfits worn by the manikins in the windows, he wouldn't mind going in. Hermione looked up and saw her dazed boyfriend staring into the windows and automatically knew what he was thinking.
"Oh no, you don't, Mr. Malfoy. You, my dear, are going over there where you can buy clothes for yourself," she said, handing him money and crushing his dreams all at once.
"But I want to go in there!" He said childishly, pointing into the lingerie store.
She raised an eyebrow at him, and said, "Well too bad. I'm not really giving you a choice in the matter. Those stores are full of trashy ladies who only go in there to buy sexy clothes for boys to see. And when a boy like you goes in there, they're likely to ask you for your opinion on which looks better!"
Draco smirked, "A boy like me huh? And what exactly does that mean?"
Hermione replied without hesitation, "Hot ones. You knew what I meant. You were clearly fishing for compliments, now hush. I don't trust the girls in there, so go to that store over there," she pointed, "and find nice clothes." She started to enter the store but turned around and finished, "and do try to stray away from green and silver. Enjoy." She then winked, turned back around, and disappeared into the store, leaving her boyfriend desperately wanting to follow her.
Draco walked aimlessly through the store he had been ordered to go into. He laughed at himself. With anyone other than Hermione, he would have refused to follow her orders and done what he wanted, when he wanted. However, Hermione was different. He wanted nothing but to please her and to upset her was something he never wanted to do. Thinking about this brought him back to the decision of whether or not to tell her. What would happen if Pansy told her? That would be undeniably worse than if he told her himself. But then what would happen. "If he told her, and then it turned out that Pansy hadn't even planned on telling her in the first place? Then he would have run himself into unnecessary trouble. He thought deeply on this and again came to his usual conclusion. He would tell her…later.
So there he was, Draco Malfoy, roaming around a muggle clothing store, trying his hardest to find clothes he thought would most please Hermione Granger, his girlfriend. He shook his head laughing, 'Never thought I'd see the day,' he thought to himself.
Well, it was official. He had absolutely no idea what to do. He didn't know how to shop for crying out loud. He was a Malfoy. Although he didn't know where they came from, his clothes had always been lain out for him. Draco never really did anything for himself now that he had come to think of it. He gave up. He saw a bench next to some strange looking rooms and sat there, trying to think of how he would explain this to Hermione when the time came. Surely, shopping for undergarments wouldn't take too long. Draco was leaning back against the wall, his eyes closed when a disgustingly cheerful voice pierced his reverie.
"Do you need some help sir?" He opened his eyes and saw a younger looking woman standing there smiling brightly at him.
Now, last year, this situation would be completely different. For one, he wouldn't even be in it because he would never be in the muggle world, let alone be shopping in it. And two, this young lady would be very appealing to the old Draco and he would surely turn on his boyish charm and work until she agreed to come home with him. But now, he knew the girl was attractive but to seduce her didn't even cross his mind. Hermione was always in his head, and no other girls even began to compare to her.
"…Sir? Are you alright?" Draco sat up, and arched his back, being that leaning against a stone wall is certainly all that comfortable for him.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just rather lost."
She smiled knowingly at him. "Oh I get this all the time. You were left alone to shop? Thought so," she said quickly, not waiting for a response. "Well my name is Angela, you can call me Angie, and I'll help you in any way possible. What exactly are you looking for?"
Draco stared, trying to take in all the information he had received in the past 6 seconds. The woman spoke a mile a minute. He took notice of the band on her left hand. 'That poor man.' Draco laughed and wondered how he had learned to understand her.
"Sir? What are you looking for?" Draco looked at her. That he understood. She seemed somewhat frustrated with him. He could see how she was upset though being that every time she spoke, Draco just stared.
"Well," Draco said uneasily, looking around at the copious amounts of clothing. "I'm not from around here and my girlfriend left me here to get some outfits but I honestly don't even know how to coordinate clothes."
Angie chuckled. He could tell she would be of use to him. She grabbed his wrist and headed towards the back left of the store. "Where are you taking me?" He asked her, as he bumped into a clothes rack, sending a few shirts falling to the ground.
"Well, sir, we have to start somewhere don't we? So I figure, we may as well work from the bottom up. We're going to find you a nice pair of jeans! And maybe, if we have time, a cleaner pair of dress slacks."
Draco just stared.
"Jeans?" He felt amazingly unintelligent asking what these things were. Not so much at first, but when Angie's jaw dropped, nearly to the floor, the feeling of pure stupidity really began to set in.
"Well, I can't really explain them," Angie said, looking a bit befuddled at how anyone could possibly live without knowing what jeans were. "I'll just show you. That's really much simpler."
She then walked away, no longer dragging him, leaving him to follow her through the maze of colorful articles of clothing. Finally, she stopped and immediately put her hands on her hips, and tilted her head to the side, her eyes scanning the back wall. The wall was full of tiny square holes with several blue articles inside. Angie proceeded to turn around and look at Draco, sizing him up from the waist down. She then approached the wall and scanned the labels with her fingers and after a triumphant "AHA!" pulled out a blue pair of pants.
Draco took them from her and felt the material. It was very new, much rougher than the silk he was so used to at home. Not rough to the point where it would seem uncomfortable, mind you, just different. While Draco was exploring the lengths of the jeans with his fingertips, Angie had grabbed several different pairs, or "different styles and shades!", as she had explained all too chipperly to him as he seemed perplexed as to why he would need more than one. She then ushered him to the strange rooms he had napped near and shoved him inside one, telling him to try those on.
He tried on a few before he found a good pair. The first were much too tight, and then the second seemed to balloon around his thighs and grow tighter towards the bottom. It was not a pretty sight. Even on Draco. He showed her the pair he liked and she got him a few more in different shades before they moved on to his top half. This was much easier in his opinion because after finding his size, all he had to do was pick out the ones he liked. He left the store with a few pairs of jeans, a few muscle tees, some nice shirts, and several of what Angie called "T-shirts".
Draco exited the store, all too excited to leave the closed quarters and the happy sales associate that was Angela. He dragged himself towards the pink lingerie store, silently praying to himself that he would have to go inside to find his Hermione. However, luck was not on Draco Malfoy's side today. She was sitting on a large bench outside the entrance, happily kicking her feet, which several pink and white bags and a small brown one sitting next to her. Draco, knowing what was in the larger bags but wondering about the smaller one, headed in her direction planning to grab it to investigate. But he wasn't quick enough, she had turned around and grabbed only the small bag before he could get it.
"Oh, you silly boy. You act as if I didn't know you were coming," she said haughtily, smirking. Draco's jaw dropped.
"You were facing the other direction!" Draco objected indignantly. Hermione laughed at him.
"You're funny. I saw you in checkout. I knew you'd be out in a few seconds and being the slimy slytherin you are, you'd wonder about the secret bag and try to get it. So I turned my back and listened very carefully. Not to mention, you wear way too much cologne. I could smell you coming a mile away."
Draco pouted, and said in an unhappy whine, "I like my cologne!"
Hermione giggled, and said, "Yes, well I do too. Don't lighten up on it. This way you can't sneak up on me." Draco smiled and shrugged but continued to eye the small brown bag in Hermione's protective grip. "Don't even think about it Mr. Malfoy, you're not getting this."
"But I would really like to know what's inside!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't pick up on that. But oh well, too bad for you. The contents of this bag are for me to know and you to find out," she finished, winking. Hermione then turned around, grabbed her remaining bags, and strutted out of the mall, not stopping to wait for her stubborn boyfriend. The wink had seriously piqued his curiosity and he had to admit, it had slightly turned him on. So he eagerly followed her back out onto the streets of muggle Britain anxious about what the rest of the day had in store.
Hermione walked lazily through the undergarment store, grabbing cute ones every so often. She honestly didn't know why she had come in here, she didn't truly need anything. She had just been thinking about her and Draco and was wondering if they were ready to move to the next step. If so, she wanted to look good. She didn't want him to have to look at her in her old pajamas. She had originally planned on buying something nice and alluring, but she was terribly shy when it came to purchasing such items. So she decided not to. Perhaps she would later. But she didn't want people to think she was a hussy or anything negative of the sort.
"Excuse me, Miss, is there anything specific you're looking for? You've been standing there biting your lip for near 5 minutes now." Hermione had a bad habit of chewing on her lip, not only to prevent herself from crying, always a failed attempt, but also when making hard decisions. Hermione tried to cover her blush to no avail. "Well dear, you seem to be debating a purchase. I frequently have younger customers in here to buy lingerie and they very often change their minds. Am I right in assuming you're one of those young ladies?"
Hermione mentally kicked herself for not being able to hide her problem better. "Yes ma'am. You're correct. See, my boyfriend and I have been together for near 5 months and well…I was thinking… ughh…" She couldn't even say it out loud. Especially to a complete stranger. The woman smiled, fully knowing what the rest of Hermione's sentence was, and walked up to her, putting her hand on her shoulders.
"Well, I'm here to help you overcome this shyness. I always have women your age in here for that reason. They never seem to be very excited. But, in my opinion, this is where your true power over your man in the relationship comes into play."
This woman was American through and through. And although Hermione usually kept her distance from Americans, she liked this one. The woman, who introduced herself as Maria, continued to explain that contrary to popular belief, women did actually have power over men. They had the power of seduction. It was so easy to get men to do what you wanted with a simple wink, or sexy smile. And as she continued to explain, Hermione realized how right she really was. She thought back on how whispering in Draco's ear some nonsense that boys enjoy simply made his day. Suddenly the idea of buying lingerie didn't seem so bad. Maria then took her measurements and took her to wear her sizes were available. "Now," Maria began, "are there any specific colors that this boytoy of yours likes?" Hermione smiled lightly and nodded.
"He's got a weird thing for green; he likes black too, although not as much as green."
A large smile appeared on Maria's face and she grabbed Hermione's hand.
"I've got just the thing!" She then dragged Hermione around the corner with a tiny skip in her step. Clearly, this sort of thing made her day. She and Hermione went through many different types of lingerie and before too long, they had agreed on one. It was an emerald green silky nightgown. The slip was so sheer it was nearly completely transparent, something Draco was sure to enjoy. It came only to the very top of the thighs, and came with a small lacy black thong for underneath. The lining of the top was silver lace which complemented the green very nicely. When she tried it on, she felt very good about herself. She obviously had not shown Maria, but Maria trusted her judgment. And by the smile on her face when she came out of the dressing room, she could tell it fit well. Hermione had wanted to wear it all the time. It fit all her curves perfectly and made her seem almost as beautiful as Draco claimed she was.
Hermione thought hard about the decision she was making. And she had not a single doubt in her mind that this is who she wanted to be with. She just hoped he would still stay with her after this. According to word around the school, Draco had been with countless girls, so surely this wouldn't be a big deal to him. She could only pray that she would compare and that he wouldn't think any less of her for giving herself to him. She honestly was beginning to think that she was in love with him. If she ever tried to think of her life with no Draco in it, it simply broke her heart. Even worse was the though of Draco being in her life, but being his old cruel self, and no longer taking such good care of her. Hermione had thought this out the night before they had come home. Hermione's darling parents had a lot of trust in her. They weren't the kind of parents who absolutely forbade her to have sex. But, they drilled into her head that sex was a way of proving your love to someone, not a means of entertainment. Therefore, they wouldn't insist on being home at all times to prevent any physical contact. In fact, they had a date that night and would be leaving around 6, not returning until sometime in the middle of the night. Hermione got butterflies just thinking about it.
After Hermione told Maria that she had decided on that one and had paid for her undergarments and new surprise apparel, she began to head out, but was stopped.
"Um, Miss? I know your plans for the evening; however, I don't know that you are fully prepared. Might I suggest something?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at her.
"Sure. What is it?" Maria then walked towards the back of the store and came back with a small brown bag. She quickly explained that inside was a box that contained means of 'protection' and that her boyfriend should know how to use one. Hermione, knowing that Draco would have no idea how to use muggle products, told Maria that Draco was a virgin too and had no idea, so after a brief explanation, Hermione was ushered out of the store with a smile, a wink, and a last call of "Have fun!"
After Hermione and Draco left the mall, they walked hand-in-hand down the street with no particular place to go. Neither of them minded it at all; just being in the presence of the one they loved was enough. But then again, neither had ever told the other that they were in fact in love. Hermione knew that before she went through with what she planned for the night she had to find out if Draco was as taken with her as she was with him. If he didn't have the same, strong, unconditional feelings, then there was no way that she would put her plan into action. After thinking of this, Hermione decided that she had to find out for sure. She wouldn't want to find out the hard way. So she led Draco to a near park, then sat him down on a park bench, ready to have the talk she'd been waiting all her life to have with the man she loved, although she never thought this would be the man she had it with.
Hermione sat on the bench, staring thoughtfully at the young children on the merry-go-round and chuckling softly when they started to scream happily as their father turned it around faster yelling, "Hold on tight!" She thought back to days like that. She and her father weren't all that close, but the two of them did have their good times. The curly headed Gryffindor sat back against the wooden bench with a smile and closed her eyes, reveling on the memories. But she was suddenly smacked back to reality when Draco dropped her hand. She looked up at him with a pout.
"Why aren't you holding my hand?" He smiled at her and put his arm around her.
"I'd much rather do this and have all of you to myself instead of just one limb."
She laughed and leaned into him, breathing in his scent. It was a mixture of many different fragrances, none that she could pinpoint, but she loved every single one, because they made Draco. And she loved him. The thought made her smile, although her smile faltered slightly when she tried to put into words her feelings for him. Hermione had absolutely no idea how she was going to say this, or where she was going to start for that matter. But she decided she would just start talking. She had a very good way with words and her smooth tongue had never let her down before.
"Draco?" He pulled away slightly, loosening his grip on her shoulders, causing Hermione to frown a bit.
"Yes?" Hermione's face screwed up with concentration as she desperately tried to figure out where to start.
'Come on brain, don't let me down now!' She thought. Then suddenly, it was there. "How long have we been together?" Draco tilted his head back slightly, staring into the clouds, which were slowly getting darker, and thought.
"Well, we never really made it official, but our first kiss in the common room was about, ohh, 4 months ago already," he finished with a smile. She looked up also, trying to decide if he was right…which he was (although it was a week or two more than 4). Now, the logic in her head told her that 4 months wasn't a long enough period of time to decide if you truly loved someone, but her heart told her otherwise. There was something between them, and it was something special. That goddamn 'opposites attract' theory that she had never believed to be true was proving itself to be far from false.
"And how long do you think that we'll be together?" She asked him, truly wanting to know. Hermione didn't know exactly how this tied in with her speech, but she'd find a way. Draco's smile fell, and Hermione got a nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach; that was not a good sign. Draco shifted his position so he was facing her on the bench and put both of his hands in his lap.
"Well, I really don't know. It's up to you, because one thing I do know is that I won't be ending this anytime soon. I don't see why I would do that to myself. I've never been so happy. So the length of our relationship lies in your hands. But if it were up to me, it would never end." Draco then leaned down, and placing one hand on Hermione's cheek, kissed her deeply. Hermione was at a loss for words; he had to love her. No one would want to be trapped forever in a relationship with one that he or she did not love. Their kiss however had to end because Hermione's lips were too busy smiling to continue their previous work. Draco pulled away from her, but only just. He kept his forehead against hers. He noticed her extremely large smile and couldn't help but reflect it. However, he became slightly uneasy when she didn't reply. His smile turned slowly into a frown, but hers didn't shrink in the least.
Hermione's mind was racing. There were a million thoughts racing through her head. She was going to be with Draco Malfoy forever. She was going to live with him, maybe even in Malfoy Manor, have his children, who were sure to be beautiful, and grow old with him. Soon it would be him on that playground, playing with their kids. She could see Draco smiling and laughing as he yelled, "Hold on tight," and pushing the merry-go-round a little faster. This was it. She was going to spend the rest of her life with the man who, just 5 months ago, she had hated with her entire being. And who now she loved with even more. Their kiss had ended a minute ago because Hermione couldn't help but smile. The life ahead of her was going to be amazing. With Draco in it, she couldn't see how it could be anything less. Hermione noticed Draco's smile falling until it was completely replaced with a frown. In her head, she was unhappy that he was unhappy, but his speech still had her smiling larger than she could ever remember.
Draco stared into her deep brown eyes; she still had not yet responded. This couldn't be good. What if he has scared her with his forever speech? But then why was she smiling? He needed a response.
"Hermione…now would be a really good time to-"
"I love you." She interrupted. The words came tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop it, but she wouldn't take it back. It was the truth. Draco's eyes widened.
"Wait…what?" Draco questioned, although he knew perfectly well what she had said. He just wanted to hear it again. He wanted to hear her beautiful voice say those words to him. Hermione's smile, if possible, grew even larger.
"I love you Draco Malfoy." Now it was Draco's turn to have a million thoughts racing through his head. She loved him? It couldn't be possible. It was too good to be true. The woman he loved loved him in return. She was his entire future. This was who he was going to be with. Blood no longer mattered. He didn't care that his children would be half-blooded and not the purebloods he and his family had always hoped for. None of that riff-raff mattered anymore. All that mattered to him was that they were hers and that they were together forever. And he couldn't ask for anything more.
"I love you too... God… Hermione, I love you!" Hermione let out a small squeal of delight and threw her arms around his neck. He picked her up around the waist and spun her around, holding onto her so tightly, it was as if he was scared if he let go, she would be taken away from him and the happiest moment of his life would end. He stopped spinning but still held her, not noticing that her feet were in mid-air, but neither of them cared. He held her in his arms and they both kept saying those three special words over and over again until they ran out of breath. Whether the loss of air was from speaking too much without a breath or from squeezing each other with all of their might, they didn't know, but they still found enough air in their lungs to share a kiss. Not just any ordinary kiss. This kiss was different. This kiss was one shared by two people who loved each other more than anything in the world. Draco loved her more than his broomstick, and Hermione loved him more than her books. And that was saying something. They pulled away, again leaving only their foreheads touching, both of them breathing deeply from their sudden outburst and smiling uncontrollably.
Hermione was the first to find her voice. "This is unbelievable. I was so scared you wouldn't feel the same way! Oh! But you do! You do!" She sounded like a sap right now and bookworm Hermione was inside of her screaming, but she didn't care. She was in love and nothing was going to ruin this moment. "And I'm not ending this either. It's you and me, Draco. We're in this together. I don't care how many people hate us for being together or how many people think we're completely off our rockers for being in love. This is it. This is where I want to be. In your arms…forever." She put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him hard, and then finally taking a deep breath, lay her head on his chest. That had not gone at all how she had planned; it had gone so much better.
Draco wrapped his arms around the woman he loved and rested his head on hers. He was so in love with her. And no stupid skank of a slytherin was going to ruin this. He would straighten it out; he would have a talk with Pansy and bribe her. He could somehow convince her to keep it a secret. Hermione didn't have to find out about this, and she wouldn't. Not if he had anything to say about it. And if he absolutely had to, he would tell her, being sure to slip in how real this feeling was and how he was so glad that he made the bet because it led him to her. However, deep down, he knew she'd be heartbroken, so he prayed to Merlin that it wouldn't come down to that.
Hermione hated to leave this position, but glancing at her wristwatch, she noticed that it was nearly 6 o'clock and she wanted to see her parents off before her big night. "Draco, my love, we have to head back. My parents won't be worrying or anything, but they're leaving the house soon and I'd like to say goodnight." Draco grabbed her hand again, intertwining their fingers, and kissed it.
"Very well darling," he said in a charming voice, causing her to giggle. He then led her back towards her house, having no idea that the best day of his life was about to get so much better.
And so they were: Malfoy and Granger, Gryffindor and Slytherin …Pureblood and Mudblood. An unsuspected couple, yes, but if this wasn't love, it was only because it was something so much deeper.
YAY! All done! Unfortunately, it's not going to be this easy. Pansy Parkinson wants Draco Malfoy. And she intends to get him. And she doesn't care if she has to break a few hearts on the way. Who will Draco end up with? Will Hermione ever find out? Is this a happy ending? Well, you're just going to have to read to find out won't you? ) I expect reviews after this long awaited chapter! And I promise, cross my heart, that it won't be 11 months until next update. I'm way too excited about this now to stop here. So no worries. Won't be long! I say you'll have your next chapter in a few days. Oh, p.s. Next chapter – !Sex scene! – You've been warned. So don't go complaining if you're all squeamish about this kind of stuff. Anyways, I'm leaving now! Kay bye guys! Don't forget to review on your way out. Have a fabulous day!